Impressed and Proud of what?

Today our son Austin was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Less than 1% of all college grads are selected. Its’ members include 7 US presidents, 7 of the 9 members of the Supreme Court, and many college professors and even Nobel prize winners. My son did not seem that impressed.

I was a very proud dad. I did not get an invitation into PBK myself. Probably the criteria about excelling in higher mathematics kept me out. I was impressed and looked forward to being seen with this scholar and seer of wisdom. I was so proud and inflated. He was not.

I always wanted our children to graduate from college and exceed their old man’s GPA and list of honors. Now both of them have done this and so much more. So, what impresses my son? What is he proud of?

I have observed that he is impressed by people who serve and humbly give of themselves. As we drove through Athens he pointed out a man who was walking with a middle school student. Austin is a youth ministry intern at their church. He was impressed that this man takes time to mentor youth in his city. He was obviously proud to be associated with people like him.

Once again the child taught his dad an important lesson and made me proud of him again. Jesus taught us that those who humble themselves will be exalted. I am so thankful tonight my children learned this and practice it. That is more important than any golden key chain or stole of honors.

Keep Running the Race!

This morning I wondered how many people were unable to finish the Boston Marathon due to the explosions close to the finish line. How many people were unable to get up and face work or their daily routine because our lives were interrupted yet again by evil and terror? How many of us are tempted to quit, stop short and give up when faced with enemies, adversaries, sickness, death, painful memories or fearful experiences?

Paul faced all of this after accepting God’s call to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. He knew persecution, betrayal, criticism, fear, beatings, imprisonment and trials on a regular basis. Yet he continued on with the good fight. He kept the faith and finished his course. (2 Timothy 4: 7) I am convinced that he had numerous mornings when he wanted to give up and just let the world go to hell. I am sure he ran out of patience with people and even questioned God’s will and ways.

Yet Paul persevered. How? He kept his focus on following Christ and trusting in the Lord. I know many people are angry this morning and want retribution on whoever set off the bombs in Boston. We want a quick fix to the problem of evil and human pain. We are afraid of what the future may bring and need a a strong dose of hope to keep up this fight for the faith and to complete our life mission.

That’s why I say look to Paul’s example. He trusted in God’s love and guidance. He knew the best was still to come in the Kingdom of God. He counted on the truth that in our world of evil and pain, God was still active, present and in charge. We can join our voices together in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

To all those who plan to run the London Marathon on Sunday, I say, run the race! To all who want to continue the race of faith today, I say, run with Christ who is at your side. To all who are tempted to give up or stay home in fear, I say, do not give into the voices of resignation and despair.

Fight the good fight. Complete the race. Keep the faith. A crown awaits you more glorious than anything this world can offer. You can count on it!

 

She watched it burn completely!!

Last Sunday I preached on understanding forgiveness. This is the beginning of a three week series on forgiveness, a topic many people talk about yet few understand and live into it. I challenged the congregation to think of one major regret they hold onto, something they still do not feel completely forgiven for. We tend to believe in God’s forgiveness but we do not fully accept that God forgives us completely and remembers it no more. We think it’s still there, tarnishing our soul and we will have to deal with it sometime, maybe even in Heaven.

I asked  everyone to write down that one sin we needed to be completely forgiven for. Then as they left the sanctuary to drop the paper in a fire pit we set up outside the building. I watched as hundreds of people dropped their piece of paper into the fire. People did this and walked on toward their cars. One lady caught my attention. She was emotional as she left the building and walked toward the fire pit. She dropped her piece of paper and then stood there intently watching it burn. She definitely needed the assurance that this time it was gone, grace was complete for her and she could move on.

This is my prayer for all of us, that we will let God’s grace thrive deep in us. Accept God’s full and unconditional forgiveness and love for you. Do not bring up again that past sin. Stop punishing yourself with its painful memory. Live a new life in Christ!

One poet says we need to take a walk in the garden of forgiveness. Pick a flower for every thing we surrender to God and for everything God has forgiven us for. Then hold up the bouquet and enjoy the beauty of the person God has adorned us now to be. I hope springtime brings you many such bouquets. You are precious in the eyes of your Creator God, the Heavenly Father who loves you and has given you life!

 

 

 

The Easter Garden

I find it interesting that John tells us the tomb of Jesus was in a garden. Jesus appears first to Mary as a gardener. I think all of this is to tell us his resurrection restores us to the garden relationship with our heavenly Father like Adam and Eve knew at Eden. He returns as a gardener to begin this work of restoration and healing in the garden of life on earth.

Jesus calls us to be gardeners with him in the work of the kingdom of God. We are to break up the soils of hatred, bitterness, fear and doubt. We are to plant the kingdom seeds of mercy, love and hope everywhere He sends us. We are to harvest the souls, redeemed lives and restored hearts into His body, the church. We are to protect His garden, expand it to all people and share the fruits of His kingdom with all people.

This spring as new life returns to the gardens all around us, let this serve to remind us of God’s love for us on the cross and through the empty garden tomb. Let spring awaken us to sow seeds of kindness, mercy, generosity and love. Let us work the garden and bring together God’s people in His one body to live out the fruits of the Spirit.

We may come to the garden alone. Yet he meets us there and gives us companions for the journey of life. It is beautiful in His garden!

Facing the Future

What is the lion that is blocking your path? Is it a broken relationship, a postponed dream, an avoided opportunity or a step you need to take? All of us face “tipping points” where we either embrace and face change or we cease to move forward and grow. And usually after that we start to lose ground, endure a slow death and feel that life is insignificant.

How can you face your lion in 2013?

*Trust rather than doubt. Skeptics never step out in faith. Only risk-takers experience victory, exhilaration and deep joy.

*Sacrifice rather than play it safe. Growth comes with pain and investment. Mountaintops are only reached after great effort and determination.

*Step up and serve rather than wait and see. Be a pacesetter. If you wait for the perfect time, you will never start and never attain your dreams and goals.

Jesus said he came to offer us abundant life. He does not offer stagnation, comfortable plateaus and safe harbors for those called to follow him. The journey is worth the highs and the lows. Explore! Dream! Discover!! This can be the favorable year of the Lord for you!! (Isaiah 61: 2)

Back on the Blogosphere!

Yes, I know. I have been away from my blog for about four months. I have several good excuses but now its time to write and share my limited wisdom and rambles with the world once again. Here are a list of random gleanings I have recorded in my journal recently. There is a thread of unity I will share in the conclusion.

A chronic fault finder rarely sees the log in their own eye. The mote is a problem only for the person looking for it. The holy person is not a mote finder. The mote finder exalts herself or himself thus yielding to temptation to look for faults constantly in others. Jesus said not to judge lest you be judged.

Our neighbor is not limited to just our own kind. Jesus taught us that our neighbor can be someone far away or right next door. People basically fit into three basic groups:

*those who beat you up

*those who judge you up

*those who pick you up

Which are you?

Jesus called us to practice acts of kindness. The more excellent way is a life of unconditional love. Most people want to give as least as possible and get back as much as possible. I am so glad I know a good share of the latter.

I think the Holy Spirit spoke these words to me because my church is now defining and envisioning who we will be in the future. Our modern culture is seeking authenticity. There is so much fake living and image building all around us. We crave honesty and openness, servant hearts and humility.

I think this starts with leaders, which points back at me and my way of living and leading. I am thankful to have mentors and grace-filled folks to discover the future with. Most of all, Christ gives us his Spirit to guide us and the company of saints to learn from.

Life is good!

 

 

Was Jesus Married?

Rev.  Adam Hamilton is a colleague of mine and a respected preacher and Biblical scholar. He recently wrote the article copied below about an ancient text that allegedly refers to Jesus as having been married to Mary Magdalene. I commend his article to you as excellent food for thought on this report:*

“Okay, let’s talk about the announcement this week of a fragment of a papyrus (an ancient scrap of paper) where Jesus mentions his wife. The timing of this announcement I felt was perfect, given last week in my sermon I walked you through the formation of the New Testament and how books either did or did not make it into the New Testament. We learned last week that the gospels in our New Testament draw upon the earliest strata of information about Jesus and date to the first century. The materials the gospel writers drew from date back to the earliest decades of the Christian faith and to eyewitness accounts. By the end of the first century and beginning of the second century these gospels are quoted by the early church fathers.

This week Harvard professor Karen King announced at a conference in Rome the text of a papyrus from the 300′s in which Jesus mentions Mary (presumably Magdalene) as his wife. There has since been some questions raised as to whether the fragment is authentic, but let’s assume it is. The fragment comes from the 300′s, 200+ years after the gospels were written. It is said that it could be a Coptic translation of an earlier Greek document. Perhaps but we have no evidence of this.

What we do know is that in the second, third and fourth centuries there were a host of “gospels” and other works that were written purporting to have information about Jesus or the apostles. They contain interesting and often fanciful stories about Jesus as a boy, or esoteric sayings placed on the lips of Jesus as a man – sayings that supported the particular leanings of this or that group.

Here are the questions I would ask about the idea of Jesus being married to Mary: If Jesus were married to Mary Magdalene, why would none of the gospels, nor any of the earliest witnesses not mention this? Mary is clearly an important person in the gospels, and she is a follower of Jesus. She is the first witness to the resurrection. She may even have loved Jesus. But there was no shame in being married in the first century. Had Jesus been married Christian theology would have developed around that idea. But neither the gospels nor the earliest documents of the Christian faith, or the letters of Paul, mention this; the early church fathers don’t mention it either. So, none of the documents we have from the earliest period of the Christian church make reference to this idea. But a fragment from a document from the 300′s, not quoted by any of the church leaders from the first three centuries of the Christian faith, is found with Jesus mentioning his wife. This would not lead me to believe this was a reliable piece of information.

Last week we noted that the criteria by which documents made it into the New Testament were apostolicity, catholicity and consistency with the gospel. Apostolicity meant that a document was written by an apostle or somehow having access to or associated with the preaching of the apostles. Catholicity meant that the document was accepted, used by and found helpful to a majority of churches across the ancient world. Consistency related to whether the message was consistent with the earliest strata of documents the church had – the letters of Paul and the four gospels. This document appears to bear none of these marks.

So, it is interesting and fun to read these documents to see how the gospel began to be reshaped and the ideas that were added to it in the centuries after the time of Jesus, but such finds don’t lead me to question the accounts we have found in the gospels of the New Testament. By the way, there is an online library of both the earliest Christian documents, the writings of the church fathers and these documents that were rejected by the church. It is fascinating to read them.”

*Reprinted from Rev. Adam Hamilton’s weekly e-blast to his congregation at Church of the Resurrection United Methodist Church in Leawood, Kansas. (www.cor.org).

News from the ILI Summit

I am now flying back after a teaching mission to the Netherlands and Kenya. I have been a part of the International Leadership Institute’s work in connecting pastors and church leaders across the globe to leadership training. We completed a Leadership Summit for ILI alumni in East Africa. I taught the alumni on two topics: Building Teams for Kingdom Ministry; and Conflict Management. I also spoke three times in worship services while in Africa. I always learn more from these pastors on the front lines than I can take to them. They a[appreciate so much when Americans come to them to teach and share practical tools for ministry.

The alumni at the Kenya ILI training were from 8 countries in East Africa – places of poverty and developing areas. And some of them were from places where persecution is a regular occurrence. Their stories of faithfulness among overwhelming challenges inspire me to be more faithful and determined to serve the Lord sacrificially. One of the pastors I taught is from the south part of Kenya where two tribes are presently in conflict. Churches are being burned, innocent people killed and homes burned. This pastor has seen 75% of his congregation flee to safe areas. Yet at the end of the conference he returned to his home area committed to serve and preach Christ among threats and hardships.

Two of the Kenyan delegates will soon be married. She is the director of a home for orphans and he will be planting a church for unreached people. I spoke to a delegate from Ethiopia that said he is presently caught up in a major conflict within his church. My workshop gave him practical teaching to lead them through the divisions with a plan and renewed hope. We knelt and prayed together for the people involved and I asked the Lord to protect him and his wife from criticism and suffering.

I was especially encouraged that many of the delegates were young adults. They are very visionary and see the church as the place where they can work together to bring hope and healing to their nations. I prayed with three young adults who long to go to seminary and are now working to save for classes and hoping for scholarship assistance. For most of these pastors, ILI training is the only training they will ever receive. When we present them a certificate of completion for the course, they are thrilled. For a majority of them, it is the first certificate they have ever received since primary school.

My thanks to my church for praying for me and allowing me to take this time to teach and encourage our sisters and brothers in Europe and Africa. They asked me to thank you and for you to continue to pray for them as they grow churches and ministries. I also thank my sponsors beyond Sugar Hill and my family for supporting this mission. This has been good for my soul and I return with renewed zeal and vision for the work of the kingdom here in the states and with renewed hope for the future of the Methodist movement. Our churches and pastors in Africa are leading the way to a new future where the people called Methodists are reaching the lost and bringing hope to hurting and broken people.

Windmills and the Wind of the Spirit

I am now in Holland with Rev Wes Griffin, the president of the International Leadership Institute. We came here to build bridges between campus ministry groups, parachurch leaders and the Jesus.net movement; and introduce them to the Christian to the Core curriculum. One of the local pastors took us yesterday to visit the windmills in the Kinderdyke region east of Rotterdam. These windmills are amazing. For over 300 years, the Dutch have used windmills and wind powered pumps to harness energy and push back the sea thus increasing their territory and safety.

These Christian leaders are now moving together in the power of the Holy Spirit’s refreshing and powerful wind to reach out and engage a new generation with the power and promise of the Good News of following Jesus Christ. It is encouraging to hear their stories of how they are using modern media and social networking to gain the attention and interest of young people across this region. People are hungry for truth and to understand God. They do not see the church as offering much in the way of relevant answers. Yet they are drawn to these networks that offer a multi-media approach to offering them hope, tools to explore their faith and answers that speak to their struggles. They respond to teaching that is question driven where the seeker is offered space to learn for themselves and from believers and mentors that meet them where they are in their journey.

Tomorrow we fly to Kenya to teach in an ILI Summit. We expect over 100 pastors from East Africa. These pastors serve in churches of all sizes and deal daily with the overwhelming pressures of poverty, persecution, hunger and disease. Pray for us as we seek to equip them, encourage them and their churches and learn from these brothers and sisters on the cutting edge of the church’s rapid growth in Africa. May the warm and powerful winds of the Holy Spirit blow upon all of us across these three continents.

Come Holy Spirit, our hearts inspire!! Amen.

A Good Word for Chic-fil-A

When my younger brother was 15, he went to work for a Chic-fil-A franchise. He worked there 3 years and learned plenty about running a small business, managing his peers and putting his best foot forward. They gave him a scholarship to college not because he was an academic wizard or a champion athlete. They saw potential in him and saw it as an investment in their community. The Cathys and their corporation have given millions in scholarships to average and special students without fanfare.

Chic-fil-A is a company based in sound business practices and solid Christian values. Their franchises are exceptionally clean, efficient and very friendly. I have eaten with them often and they have never disappointed me in product and excellence in service. They hire teens and adults from their community and teach them etiquette, small business skills and team work. They give generously to their communities and their owners and management are leaders in local PTAs, churches, service organizations & recreation leagues.

In every church I have served the Chic-fil-A employees have been model disciples and servant leaders. They respond positively when we request their assistance. I respect their policy of closing on Sundays. They do this so their employees can go to worship and/or spend time with family. Many economists have said this would have to change with the times or they would suffer. Their bottom line remains strong, before and during the recession, without changing their values and policies.

The founding family of this business, the Cathys, are life-long followers of Jesus Christ. They are known for practicing their faith in servant living. The reporter who interviewed Dan Cathy knew the answer to his question about marriage rights before he ever sat down with him. I think this reporter set him up to gain the public reaction he desired for his news article about the restaurant. This was poor journalism and was not the purpose of the interview.

This morning my men’s Bible & breakfast group feasted on delicious chicken biscuits from Chic-fil-A. We did so because they are really good to eat and also because we are so glad that this franchise serves and employs people in our community. Our choice is for their product, who they are as a quality business and a place of consistent values and integrity. My guess is Mr. Cathy and his partners in the local franchises will experience much support from many people who appreciate the same.